Just Settle Down!

Did you ever tell your kids that?  My boys were 2 years apart, and that was heard with great frequency around here.  Now I'm saying it to myself!

I'm having a lot of trouble settling down to a project lately.  I threw away two projects this morning!  Don't worry, I didn't waste a lot - they were small, but very deserving of their fate.  I worked on them both this morning, and ruined them!  ARGH!

This is another project I'm trying to work on, it's fighting me tooth and nail.  Just a sneak peek for now.



I cleaned my sewing room the other day, in the hopes I could get organized and find something to settle down with.  Boy, did I find things.  I have so many stitcheries started!  Trouble is, I put them away to work on something else, and forget I have them.  And with all the gorgeous BOM's out there right now, I want to start more!

Remember my friend Shirley's pillow she made?  She made two more little wallhangings of the same design.



She's putting me to shame.  I love those things.  January is gone, and I have not one finish!  Here's another pillow she made, a number of years ago.



See why she inspires me?

I think I'll go plug in Lucy, and pick up one of those stitchery projects I found before they take my quilting license away!

By the way - I'm still rising at 5am, still loving it, now if the rest of the family would just get up so I can turn on my sewing machine that early!

Did Ya Miss Me?

Cuz I missed you!  I've been visiting all your blogs, just not commenting - I've been BUSY.  Not sewing - just changing my whole perspective!

Remember how bad of a night owl I am?  Well, I've always wanted to be an early morning person.  The Lord brought to my mind the scripture that "ye have not, because ye ask not", so I asked Him to help me become a morning person.  The very next day I was up at 5am!  Every single day last week, I was up at five, and in bed by 9pm, with no tossing and turning, no insomnia, just right to sleep.  The first day I only got 4 hours of sleep, the second day only five hours, but it worked.  This weekend, I decided to sleep in until 6am. *G*  I'm loving this!!!  I even got to see this....

 

That is DAWN.  In my front yard.  And I didn't have to stay up all night to see it!

Also, I won a give-away, from Michelle Ridgway - another superb Australian designer, I just love her!   She's an absolute sweetheart and I'm honored to call her friend!  Not only did she send me these delightful gifts...

Look at that sweet little lace heart, I think I'm going to design something for the center of it...some sweet green fabric with polka dots....rose cards...darling needlebook....precious rose button....and two of her gorgeous patterns!!!  But that's not all, she sent a little gift for my mum!  

Isn't that too sweet?  She said the Christmasaholics need to stick together.  She decorates like my mum, lol - love how they both go all out for the holiday!  Do go check out Michelle's patterns, they are so sweet - thank you so much Michelle, I love it all!  And I was right, Shirley wants me to make the bear for her!

Mum and I went to Shirley's this week, what a treat.  Shirley has been away from sewing since her hubby died, almost 3 years ago.  Well, she got some inspiration and made a pillow, how gorgeous is this....

She also pulled out an antique quilt that she has.  Oh my gosh, I love it so much....it's all hand-pieced, all hexagons, even the aqua background is hexagons.  The lime green border is one piece.  I just think it looks so fresh and modern still!  It's machine quilted.  Someone in her hubby's family made it, she's not sure who.  Martha, any ideas on how old this is?

 I'm almost back to commenting on all your blogs, although I have some catching up to do!  Bear with me, I'm getting used to this whole new schedule, I get super sleepy at the time I used to read blogs, so I have to find a new time of day to do that!  Probably early morning, after I breakfast with my son and see him off to work.  It sure is different seeing the world from an early bird perspective, and I love it!  I'm sure I'll get it all figured out soon.  And now I'm off to read some blogs!

A pic of Greta, just cuz....

This Post Brought To You By....

A gift from my blogless friend Cathy, who knows me SO well.  Don't you just love this?  Thank you Cathy, you sure know how to brighten my day!  Cathy's "thing" is Betty Boop, mine is Lucy.  You should see all her Betty Boop stuff....so cute!

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You may have seen some sites blacked out today, to protest the SOPA/PIPA bills currently pending.  Wikipedia, Google, and even Flickr.  This bill proposes to stop online piracy, but is really an ill-concealed attempt to completely control the internet.



If you click on the photo, you'll see the message from flickr.  Please consider visiting one of these sites and signing the petitions to stop this bill.

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I wanted to let you all know that I'm taking a mental health blog break.  My quilting mojo seems to have flown south, not taking me with it.  Stupid mojo.  Rather than bore you silly with all I'm not getting done, I'll just go quiet.  I'll be back in a week or two, at which time I hope to have something to share.  Y'all behave yourselves!

A Little Housekeeping....

My blog seems to be getting dusty!  I've been busy, just not much to share.  I'm currently working on a new quilt pattern, but I didn't have enough black fabric, so I'm waiting on a shipment.



I thought I would test the pattern out with some batiks, I have some scraps and really wanted to see what it would look like.  I'd already fused the pattern on the fabric I plan on using, but got stuck without enough black fabric, and started fusing the batiks. Good thing I did, because I forgot to reverse my templates on the fusible.  Ever do that?  It doesn't inspire confidence.



Good thing I ordered more black, cuz all those pieces got thrown out.  I'm such a rookie.  Got these to play with on the new pattern too....



I think I'm going to like this new quilt!

So that's it in old boring Allie-land, I'll have to find something to do while I wait for my fabric - and I think I know just the thing - the Mermaids pattern I won from Debbie!  I've been wanting to do that and now is the perfect time.  What are you working on??

Sue from Cypress, could you email me please?  I seem to have lost your email addy!

A Fun Week

Hi everyone!  Hope you've all had a good start to the new year, mine has been relaxing and pretty uneventful.  But my postman delivered a few events.

I got a lovely package from Melody, from The House On The Side Of The Hill.  Look at this sweetness.....



Beautiful, what?  I don't know if Melody knew it or not, but my word last year was "joy".  This is a lovely reminder.  She says it's a mug rug/coaster, but good heavens, could you set a dripping tea cup on that?  I don't think so.  It's on the wall. And the darling scissors fob is on my curved embroidery scissors.  Thank you Melody!  By the way, Melody is starting a new BOM, called Home Sweet Home, starting January 9th - can't wait!

And remember that jelly roll give-away Jan was doing?  Well, I won!  She emailed me on New Year's Day, what a way to start the new year.



How pretty is that!  Dandelion Girl from Fig Tree Quilts.  There will be a summer design to go with that!  Thank you Jan!!!  She's my hero....have you seen how many quilts she makes for Project Linus?  WOW.

Also in the mail, remember the pattern I did for Fresh Hope in Australia?  Well, they sent me a copy for my records...



To say I'm thrilled would be an understatement.  They did a gorgeous job, so professional, I'm so pleased.  You can go to their website and look at all the gorgeous patterns they have, from many different designers, and purchase directly from Mary or click on the link to see where else to purchase.  I'm honored to be able to promote their wonderful ministry!

And then, mum wanted to paint me a little something.  She didn't have a picture to work from, or the tiny brushes she needed....but she hoped I would recognize Lucy. And I did.



Bless her heart, how I love her!

Now.  Last year, I participated in Kelly's Word Up.  Basically, you pick a word for the year that you hope to have more of in your life - my word last year was joy.  Kelly has just written a wonderful post explaining her own word for this year.  This year, my word is WORK.

Work is not a four-letter word to me.  The bible says work is a blessing, and I agree.  For many years, my family was my work - I homeschooled my boys, took care of our home, cooked all the meals, etc.  But now both my boys have graduated, hubby is not working and discovered he loves to cook, and I find myself with a lot of time on my hands.  I have a lazy streak a mile wide in me, and I don't want to spend the rest of my life being slothful - I have a horror of that, but gravity gets to me and I find myself sitting far too much, doing nothing.  It's time for me to get out of neutral and into drive.  I used to be a real type A person, always moving, always doing something, and I want that back.  But with balance this time....knowing when to stop, knowing when to rest, not pushing myself into not being able to move for a week.

I'm not sure yet what that work will look like, other than designing.  I will need a job, a regular job, where I can support myself.  I don't think designing will do that, although I'm hopeful it will help support my quilting habit!  So I'll keep myself open to opportunity, and pray, and let the Lord lead me.  As Thomas Edison said, "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work".  I don't want to miss it, I'll be keeping my eyes open and seeking it out.

I appreciate Kelly doing this.  Do read her post about what she learned from the word she picked last year.  SO thoughtful and inspiring.  What will your word be this year?

Lastly, I leave you with a very fuzzy pic of a visitor to my front yard early this morning.  The sun was shining in my window, that's the glare...but January, and a robin?



It was 54F today, I guess they don't feel the need to fly to Florida anymore!  I hope you all have a lovely weekend, see you next week!

Christmas Through The Year

GUESS WHAT!!  For those of you who loved doing Christmas Through The Year, I have very, very good news - Darlene from Quilting Daze and Cheryl from Polka Dots & Rick Rack have decided to carry it on!  Go see Darlene's post and read all about it!

They're keeping it open all year, as I did, no sign up required, so if you miss a month nobody will kick you out.  I truly think that makes it more achievable for all of us.  Thank you Darlene and Cheryl, I'm so happy to hand over the torch to you both, I know you'll do great!  And folks, do go check out what they're giving away every month....I'm teasing you now, you'll have to go look!